KOA's Bob Newman Has a Heart After All

Many critics of Bob "Gunny Bob" Newman, a Westword profile subject who makes his living as a conservative fireballer for KOA/850 AM, likely consider him to be heartless -- but he now has medical evidence to prove them wrong. The retired Marine gunnery sergeant has been off the air since late July after being diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia and undergoing surgery to set him right -- not that he doesn't lean to the right, anyway.

"Once Again, Much to the Consternation and Annoyance of the Radical Left, the Gunny Proves Hard to Kill," an August 4 update published on KOA's website, tells the tale. On July 30, after feeling a flutter in his heart for two weeks or so, Newman belatedly phoned a doctor, who told him to visit a hospital immediately. Tests performed at the Lafayette branch of Boulder Community Hospital quickly diagonosed the problem, and a subsequent examination revealed that his coronary artery was 85 percent blocked. Surgery to install a metal mesh cardiac stent followed shortly thereafter. According to the aforementioned account, "the operation worked but the Gunny is on all sorts of meds, as one might imagine. He will be back to work very soon and fully intends to ramp it up even more against Che Obama to test the strength of his stent."

Ooh-rah. -- Michael Roberts